Pocket Paladin
by The Opal Essence
Summary: While rescuing Shiro from the Galra, Lance is given a new perspective on life. How will everyone handle his new stature and how long will he be stuck like this? What does this mean for team Voltron? What are the villains up to? or, Lance gets shrunk and shenanigans ensue. (shrink, shrinking, tiny Lance, small, g/t, giant tiny)
1. Where are they now?

"Look out, Hunk!" Lance said as he flew the red lion out of the way of the robeast. The robeast spread its wings and brought them down, creating a hurricane force wind tunnel aimed right at the yellow lion.

"Ooof. Aaaaaah!" Hunk yelled as he was thrown around mercilessly by the wind tunnel.

"Are you alright, Hunk?" Allura worriedly asked while she brought down some of the Galran fighter jets using the blue lion.

"Ugggh. I'm okay. Just remind me never to do that again. I think I left my stomach behind." Hunk groaned out through the coms.

"I didn't know that could happen to humans. Do you need us to cover you while you go back and get it?" Allura asked.

"Oh, I didn't actually leave my stomach behind. It just means that my stomach is feeling upset." Hunk informed her while he shot down another fighter jet.

"Why wouldn't you just say that your stomach isn't feeling well?" Allura questioned as she flew the blue lion out of the way of one of the robeast's missiles.

"It's an earth thing. It's a lot more fun to joke about it." Lance explained as he shot down two fighter jets with the red lion.

"Now is not the time for jokes! We have to keep the Galra's attention on us while Pidge and Keith are on their ship. They might be able to find out where the Galra are keeping Shiro and Pidge's father." Allura snapped as she barely avoided getting caught in another wind tunnel that was unleashed by the robeast.

"Pidge, Keith. How are things going on your end?" Hunk asked, including the other two paladins in the communication loop.

"I've almost downloaded the prisoner database here. There aren't any prisoners on board, so once we're out you can open fire on the ship. I've also got the ion cannon rigged to blow once we're a safe distance away." Pidge responded before going back to making sure that the Galra wouldn't notice they were being hacked.

"How's the robeast situation?" Keith asked.

"It's going great! You're missing out on all the fun down here, Mullet." Lance teased Keith while taking out yet another fighter jet.

"Will you stop calling me that?" Keith asked, annoyed at Lance's comment on his hair.

"I will, if you get rid of the mullet and admit that I'm a better pilot than you." Lance smugly answered.

"Well we know that's not gonna happen anytime soon," Pidge commented with a smirk in her voice.

"Oh come on. I'm a great pilot, right Red? Ooof" Lance yelled as he was hit by one of the fighter jets.

"Heh. You were saying?" Keith commented failing to hide his amusement at the situation.

"Oh shut it mullet. You try flying a different lion than you're used to." Lance grumbled out.

"I am?" Keith reminded Lance.

"Oh yeah. Well, at least I don't have a mullet!" Lance exclaimed.

"Wow. Great come back. Can't argue with that." Pidge said with sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Paladins, please! We have a mission to do here. We need to focus on protecting the Vorurteil from the Galra empire, not on someone's hairstyle." Allura reminded everyone of the reason they were there in the first place while reprimanding Lance. "We cannot allow any more planets to fall prey to the empire."

"Don't worry princess, Lancelot and his noble steed are on their way to save the day!" Lance said as he flew closer to the robeast to help Allura and Hunk.

"Good reference Lance!" Hunk encouragingly said as he shot down another fighter jet.

"Lancelot? Who is Lancelot?" Allura asked as she froze a fighter jet before ramming into it and shattering it into space dust.

"You know, knight in shining armor, slayer of dragons, savior of princesses" Lance answered unaware of the missile coming right towards him.

Luckily, Allura noticed it and was able to push the red lion out of the way

"More like saved by the princess." Hunk commented.

"Lance, are you implying that I can't defend myself?" Allura asked.

"What? No! You can take care of yourself. Most princesses faint at the sight of danger, but you sure don't. You could kick my ass any day." Lance quickly said.

"Really? Well, in that case, it looks like you could use some more training. That's an extra (half/varga/hour) of training for everyone tomorrow." Allura responded.

"Oh come on" groans and similar sounds came through the coms. "Why should we all be punished because Lance couldn't keep his big mouth shut?" Pidge asked.

"Because we're a team. We train together to win together. What one individual does affects the whole team. It is only fair that we share in their fate." Allura stated.

"Remind me why the girl with super strength is in charge of training. Not all of us are Wonder Woman you know." Pidge muttered to herself.

"What was that, Pidge?" Allura asked, having not heard what she said clearly.

"Nothing. Just saying that I could use some peace and quiet so I can focus on not alerting the Galra to the fact that we're on their ship." Pidge responded.

"Sorry, Pidge." Everyone chorused.

Lance noticed that the robeast was aiming its missiles right at the yellow lion. Hunk was distracted by all of the fighter jets swarming him and didn't seem to be aware of it. Not even thinking, Lance charged across the sky and slammed his lion into Yellow letting the missiles hit Red instead. "Uggggh. That's going to leave a mark." Lance groaned out.

"What did you do to Red?" Keith questioned.

"Nothing. Sheesh. We just got hit by the robeasts missiles. She'll be fine. Stop backseat lion driving." Lance answered.

"Can you two leave your little rivalry for later? I got the database downloaded. We're on our way to our lions now. Once we're out, let's form Voltron, defeat this robeast, and blow this popsicle stand." Pidge said.

"We really should start naming the robeasts. It's hard to keep track of them." Hunk suggested.

"I don't think naming them is going to help us fight them," Keith said.

"Yeah, but think how much better the story of saving Shae and the other Balmerans would be if instead of saying that we faced a robeast with lasers all over its arms we say that we fought the laser squid. It rolls off the tongue a bit nicer and adds a bit more of pizazz to the story." Lance said as he used Red's fire to melt through some of the fighter jets. "Any suggestions for names for this one?"

"Yeah, how about shut up and focus Lance!" Pidge yelled through the coms as the Green and Black lions zoomed out of the Galra ship while the ion cannon exploded from the inside just as Pidge had told it to.

"Mmm good try, but I was thinking something more like the Terror-dactyl, cause it looks like a pterodactyl and inspires terror in its victims," Lance responded.

"Good one, Lance." Hunk commented.

"Could you please focus on the mission? Honestly, it's like dealing with a Glolnor." Allura said, muttering the last part under her breath.

"Alright. Let's form Voltron and fight the pterodactyl." Keith said

"Keith, it's called the Terror-dactyl." Lance tried to correct his teammate.

"That's what I said. The pterodactyl." Keith responded.

"No, it's…oh never mind. We'll work on it later." Lance said

"Form Voltron!" Keith yelled as the paladins all flew in formation focusing on their bond as paladins.

"Did anyone see any weaknesses for this guy?" Pidge asked.

"Our laser guns have some effect, but they aren't able to pierce through the armor." Hunk answered.

"The most they could do is hold the creature at bay, but we can't do that forever," Allura added on.

"He didn't seem to like Red's fire. Maybe we can try to draw him closer to the volcano over there." Lance suggested.

"That's…actually not a bad idea," Allura commented.

"Why do you sound so shocked?" lance asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I mean, even a broken clock's right twice a day," Pidge said.

"Yeah, uh huh, exactly. Wait…" Lance started to say before he was interrupted by Hunk yelling

"Guys! On our left!"

"Pidge, shield!" Keith yelled upon seeing the robeast's missiles heading right for them. The impact from them hitting the shield was enough to push back Voltron.

"That gives me an idea! We can use my gun to force this guy up against the volcano, just like how he was able to push us!" Lance said excitedly.

"That could work, but you're not enough on your own. We need more power if we want to push this guy back." Keith commented. "Hunk, your weapon should work, so get ready."

"I was born ready." Hunk said.

"Now!" Keith yelled as Pidge's shield went away and Hunk's cannon emerged. He fired at the Terror-dactyl and hit it dead on.

"Direct hit! Nice shot, Hunk!" Lance called out as the robeast stumbled back towards the volcano.

"Thanks, I try." Hunk said.

"One more hit like that should force the Terror-dactyl right next to the volcano," Pidge remarked.

"He's starting to get up, guys!" Lance exclaimed.

"Hunk, how long until your cannon's charged?" Keith asked.

"Just a tic more and…ready when you are."

"Ready, aim, fire!"

Most of the shots hit the Terror-dactyl, but a few of them missed and hit the side of the volcano. Unbeknownst to them, this robeast still had one trick up its sleeve. As Keith summoned his sword, the Terror-dactyl fired what looked like a net at Voltron.

"Really? A net? That's the best the Galra can do?" Pidge commented with a smug look on her face.

Suddenly electricity flowed through the net that had Voltron in its clutches.

"What the cheese? I can't move!" Lance yelled.

"Neither can I!" Allura said, with the rest of the paladins confirming that they were also unable to move. "Somehow, this net must be able to immobilize Voltron. We can't get out!"

"What do we do, Keith?" Lance asked worriedly.

"I…I don't know," Keith responded, voice sounding small.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're our leader!" Lance yelled on the verge of panic.

"That doesn't mean I know everything!" Keith yelled back.

"Shiro would know what to do," Lance muttered to himself.

"Well, guess what, Lance. I'm not Shiro. He's not here." Keith responded angrily, though that anger was more directed at himself.

"If you would _please_ stop antagonizing each other perhaps we could figure a way out of this situation," Allura interjected.

"Sorry, Allura." They chorused. Suddenly they were thrown in the air towards the base of the volcano.

"Uggh. I still can't move. Pidge, do you think you can hack our way out of here?" Hunk asked.

"No. Green won't let me in. The net is stopping the lions from doing much of anything." She responded.

"Does anyone else feel like the ground is shaking?" Lance asked.

"Now that you mention it, yes," Allura answered.

"I think the volcano's going to erupt! Hunk's cannon fire and Voltron hitting it must have triggered it." Pidge said.

"Can Voltron survive lava?" Hunk's worry showed in his voice.

"For a short while, yes, but only the red lion can survive more than 5 dobashes," Allura responded.

"So we've got 7 minutes until we're toast. Literally." Lance said.

"We've got to get out of here! Can anyone move?" Hunk asked only to receive a chorus of "no" in response.

Suddenly there was a great sound of thunder as a plume of smoke rose up into the air. Lava began to flow down the slope of the volcano all the while the robeast approached Voltron, ready to strike.

"It was nice knowing you all…and Keith." Lance said.

"Really, Lance?" Keith said exasperatedly.

"Do you still have to pick a fight with Keith when we're about to die?" Pidge yelled through the coms.

The lava was nearly upon them. The Terror-dactyl roared in Voltron's face as it steadied itself against the volcano and Voltron to aim its missiles right at the lions. Before it could fire, the lava reached its hand that was on the volcano. With an agonizing roar, it released its hold on Voltron and stumbled away.

"We're free! Let's go!" Keith said as Voltron regained its movement and stood to take down the robeast once and for all.

"Your sword should be able to pierce through the armor," Allura commented.

"It would be better if it were Shiro's flaming sword," Keith said dejectedly.

"Well, if all else fails, Hunk can always knock him back into the lava," Lance suggested.

"Yeah, if we don't get caught in that net again." Hunk worried out loud.

"We won't. We know about it, so he no longer has the element of surprise. We got this guys!"

"Everybody ready? Let's go!" Keith said as they approached the beast once more.

The Terror-dactyl had finished grieving over its charred skin and was ready to finish what it was created to do. Voltron and the Terror-dactyl charged at one another. The robeast fired its net at Voltron once again, but they were able to dodge it. With a quick swing of the sword, the robeast was sliced clean through. Its corpse fell into the lava that still flowed down the volcano.

"The Vorurteil humbly thank you all for ridding our planet of the Galra."

"It was the least we could do after receiving your message. You must be Virelai." Allura said.

"And you must be Princess Allura. Even here we have heard tell of you and Voltron." Virelai said at seeing her surprise at knowing who she was. "Though I must say, the stories do not do your beauty justice."

Allura blushed slightly at the comment before regaining her composure. "Thank you, but we are not here to just exchange compliments. We would be honored if you would be willing to join the Voltron Coalition. Together, we will be able to defeat the Galra empire once and for all."

While the two leaders were discussing, Lance looked over at Keith and noticed a thin line of blood flowing down his face. "You've got something on your face, Mullet." He said while pointing at Keith's cheek.

"I wish you would stop calling me that," Keith said as he brushed away the blood with his hand. "I must have bumped my head during the fight." He began to take off his helmet to better inspect the wound.

A wave went through the crowd as the Vorurteil nearest to them grabbed their rifles and pointed them at Keith.

"What is the meaning of this?" Princess Allura asked.

"He is Galra." Virelai spat out, fury evident in her voice.

The other paladins formed a circle around Keith to shield him from the crowd upon seeing their reaction to Keith's ears giving away his Galran heritage.

"So what if he's part Galra? He is a paladin of Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed.

"A position for which his kind should never have been chosen for." Virelai retorted.

"He risked his life to save your planet. I believe the words you're looking for are thank you." Lance said.

One of the Vorurteil near them spat at Keith "I would rather _die_ than be saved by the likes of _them_!"

"Okay, that's a bit harsh there. How about everyone puts their guns down so we can talk this out peacefully." Hunk put his hands in front of him in a calm down motion.

"And leave ourselves defenseless for him to attack?" Another Vorurteil yelled out in the crowd. "How do we know you aren't working for the Galra empire?"

"I can assure you that we are not and will _never_ affiliate ourselves with the Galra Empire," Allura responded.

"And yet there is a Galra among you." Virelai icily spoke as she narrowed her eyes.

" _Keith_ is a valued member of our team," Allura emphasized Keith's name.

"Yeah! He's one of the good Galra!" Lance exclaimed.

"The only good Galra is a dead Galra." Someone in the mob shouted. Other voices echoed in agreement.

"Actually, that's not true. The Blade of Marmora have helped us out quite a bit." Hunk continued trying to calm the crowd.

"And just who are the Blade of Marmora?" Virelai raised a hand to silence the crowd.

"They are a group of Galra who fight against the empire and among our most trusted allies," Allura replied. "Keith himself is a member, as was his mother."

"How do you know that his mother and the others were not preparing him to be a mole on your team?" Virelai prompted.

"Well, that would be kind of hard for them to do given that my mother left when I was a baby. I only found out I was part Galra a month, err, pheeb ago." Keith responded.

"Yeah. Don't go around dissing the Blade of Marmora. Without them, Voltron wouldn't be here now." Lance commented.

"If it were not for the actions of their man on the inside, Thace, Voltron would have been in the Galra Empire's clutches. All would have been lost." Allura stated.

"Not to mention if Ulaz hadn't freed Shiro, we wouldn't have even found Blue at all. Without the Blade, there would be no Voltron." Lance added on.

"We owe everything to them," Allura said.

There was indistinct murmuring though out the crowd before Virelai once more silenced them with a wave of her hand.

"If what you say is true, then perhaps there is hope for an alliance. There's just one problem. How would we tell someone from the Blade from someone from the Empire?"

"If they truly are from the blade, they will have a knife like this," Keith said as he held up his knife. "They will also be able to activate it like so." A purple light surrounded the knife as it transformed into a messer. "Only those with Galra blood who have officially joined the Blade can do this."

"Thank you for this information. We thank you all once more for your assistance and would be honored to be included in the coalition. I would also like to apologize for my people's and my reaction to you, Keith. We should know better than to judge based on what one is. It is one's actions that determine who they are." Virelai said as she bowed her head to Keith.

"You don't have to apologize. I know how hard it can be to accept that there are good Galra out there when the Empire is doing such terrible things. It took me some time to accept that part of myself." Keith responded.

"It was an adjustment for everyone. I was…less than welcoming to the idea. The empire had destroyed my planet and my people among many others. How could someone of their blood possibly be chosen as a paladin of Voltron? I did come to realize that it was not Keith who did those things. The people who committed those atrocities are long dead, save for Zarkon and Haggar. I could never forgive them for what they have done, but their descendants I could seek reconciliation with. I trust Red and Black's choice in Keith serving as a paladin." Allura stated.

"Both Lions chose him as a paladin? Is that why he wears red yet pilots the black lion?" Virelai asked.

"Something like that. Our true black paladin, Shiro, was captured by the Galra. I'm just subbing for him until we find him. I don't like to think of myself as the black paladin. I'm the red paladin and once Shiro's back, I'll go back to piloting Red." Keith responded.

"Is that why some of the rest of your team's colors don't correspond with their lion's colors?" Virelai prompted.

"Yep, you got it, pretty lady," Lance responded. "It has taken some getting used to, but the 'paladin shuffle' has held up. We've had our struggles, but they help us grow closer as a team."

"And we as a people are thankful for it. You can count on the assistance of the Vorurteil in your fight against the Galra Empire." Virelai stated.

"Here's a communicator. If the Galra Empire comes back, give us a call and we'll be happy to assist you." Allura said as she handed the communicator to Virelai.

"Greetings paladins! How did the mission go?" Coran asked as the rest of team Voltron filed into the bridge of the castleship.

"It went well. The Vorurteil have agreed to become part of the coalition." Allura responded.

"How are the castle upgrades going?" Hunk asked.

"Quite well in fact. Within a few varga, the particle barrier should be able to withstand more than a single blast from an ion cannon." Coran replied. "I am sorry that I couldn't provide any air support for you all on the mission. My grandfather designed the ship to upgrade something only when the system was turned off. If the ship had been there, it would have been a sitting…what was that animal you said, number 5?"

"A sitting duck." Pidge supplied.

"Ah yes. A sitting duck. Quite the interesting creatures your planet has." Coran commented.

"Well, if we're ever in the neighborhood, we could make a pit stop and show you a duck," Lance said. "My family has a farm in Cuba, so there would be plenty of animals for you to see."

"That would be smashing!" Coran replied. "Is there any more news?"

"Not yet. Shiro and Dad weren't on board, but I did download their prisoner database. I should be able to find a clue of some sort in there once I decode it." Pidge said as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"That's wonderful! I wish you luck." Coran exclaimed.

"Please do try not to stay up all night working on it. Remember, extra training in the morning. For every dobash one of you is late, it's an extra 5 dobashes for everyone." Allura reminded the team.

"Yeah, Lance." Pidge snidely remarked.

"Hey, it takes time to look this good," Lance said as he gestured to his face.

"You're joking, rights?" Keith said with a small snicker.

"I wouldn't expect some desert heathen to understand that moisturizer is your friend," Lance said in a joking manner.

"Oh haha," Keith said dryly.

"I can go whip up something in the kitchen if anyone's hungry. I think I've perfected space pancakes." Hunk suggested.

"Woohoo! Breakfast for dinner is the best!" Pidge exclaimed.

"That sounds delightful, Hunk. What are pancakes?" Allura asked.

"Wait. You've never had pancakes? They're like one of the best kinds of food ever. You haven't lived until you've tried Hunk's." Lance responded.

"Yeah. He makes the best pancakes in the universe." Pidge added on.

"Aww, guys. You're gonna make me blush." Hunk commented. "But if I'm gonna make the 'best pancakes in the universe', I'm going to need a taste tester."

"Called it!" Lance excitedly raised his hand in the air as everyone made their way to the kitchen.

Before heading off to bed, Lance had finally gotten the chance to ask Coran about the creature Allura had mentioned during their battle on Vorteil. The conversation was still floating through his mind as he tried to fall asleep.

"A Glolnor? They're brainless creatures from planet Gleedon. Quite daft little things. My grandfather said that some once tried to keep them as pets, but they had a tendency to become distracted. Quite a few died because they were distracted from eating. Can you imagine being that senseless?" Coran said with a chuckle.

"No, I can't." Lance said while thinking _'I guess that's how Allura sees me.'_

"Why do you ask?"

Not wanting to say Allura had referred to him being similar to one of those creatures, Lance quickly said "Oh, I just read it in something in the library."

"Ah. It's nice to see you contributing more to the team."

 _'_ _Guess I don't contribute enough.'_

Other bits of conversations started spiraling in his head as he tried to fall asleep.

 _'_ _Not enough.'_ Keith said

 _'_ _Broken.'_ Pidge commented.

 _'_ _No. That's not true.'_ Lance tried to assure himself.

 _'_ _Shut up.'_ Pidge spoke again.

 _'_ _Focus on the mission.'_ Allura said.

 _'_ _I was. I do focus on the mission. I just have my own way of dealing with things.'_ Lance weakly argued.

 _'_ _Stop antagonizing each other.'_ Allura stated.

 _'_ _Worst pilot'_ Keith commented.

 _'_ _Naturally dumb.'_ Hunk said.

 _'_ _The only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.'_ Iverson barked out.

 _'_ _I know I'll never be as good as Keith or any of them, but I'm trying.'_ Tears began to fall. _'Why can't they see that?'_

He heard a worried *Squeak* from his nightstand.

"Oh. Hey, Chulatt." Lance sat up as he brushed away his tears. "What are you doing here?"

Chulatt started doing charades to talk to Lance.

"You're worried about me?"

The space-mouse nodded with a *Squeak* of agreement.

"You don't have to be, though it's nice to know someone cares."

Chulatt raised his hands in a grabbing motion.

"You want me to pick you up? Okay. Hop on." Lance said as held his hand flat on the nightstand next to Chulatt.

The blue mouse climbed onto his palm and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright, going up." Lance raised his hand that was holding Chulatt.

The mouse held onto his thumb like a handrail. Once he was in front of Lance's face, he started hugging himself.

"You want a hug?"

*Squeak*

"Aww. How can I say no to that face?" Being careful not to squeeze Chulatt too hard, Lance lowered him to his chest and pressed him against it.

Chulatt nuzzled into the embrace as Lance began to pet him. A few minutes passed as Lance continued to pet him.

"Thanks for worrying about me, but it's getting late and I'm sure Allura and the other space-mice are wondering where you went. You should probably head back before they miss you. Oh!" Lance exclaimed as he brought Chulatt back in front of his face. "Before you go, can you keep this between us? I don't want anyone else to know I was crying. I know crying is not a bad thing, but please? I got some mouse treats at the space mall. If you don't tell, I'll give you one."

Chulatt tilted his head to the side in a thinking motion before gesturing to Lance, crossing his arms and shaking his head, then moving his fists to his eyes and making a crying motion.

"You'll think about it if I stop crying?"

*Squeak*

"Alright. You drive a hard bargain, but I'll try to stop crying. You're very persuasive for such a small mouse."

Chulatt let out an indignant *Squeak* and stomped his foot on lances palm.

"Sorry, sorry. For such a sweet mouse."

Chulatt beamed at the praise as Lance placed him back on top of the nightstand.

Lance opened the drawer on his nightstand and pulled out the bag of treats. He grabbed one out of the bag and handed it to Chulatt.

"There you go."

*Squeak*

"You're welcome. Good night."

*Squeak* Chulatt said before he dashed back off towards Allura's room.

Lance tried to fall asleep once more. The voices were still present in his head, but they were much quieter now. He soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

"Sir, the paladins were able to defeat the cruiser and the robeast." Acxa informed Lotor.

"I would have expected nothing less of them. Truly remarkable. We have their leader, and yet they remain a force to be reckoned with." Lotor responded calmly.

"There's more. The green one was able to access and download the prisoner database you put on the ship, just like you said they would." Ezor added on.

"Perfect. They're playing right into our hands." Lotor stated.

"Why did you put that on there anyway? Now they're going to know where all of our prisoners are." Ezor questioned.

"It's all part of the plan. Besides, they're only interested in two of our prisoners. And of those two, they are more likely to go where they believe we're holding their leader. That location is the only accurate information in the database." Lotor explained.

"I still don't get why we couldn't have gone there and bashed some heads." Zethrid said as she cracked her knuckles.

"All good things to those who wait. We can chase them in circles like a yupper chasing its tail, or we can wait for them to come to us. They have something we need. It would do us no good to destroy them at this point."

"Ooooh. Are we going to trade their leader for it?" Ezor asked.

"Something like that." Lotor said with a smug smirk on his face.

Narti pulled up some of the security feeds from the cruiser the paladins had taken down earlier. These cameras were powered remotely by their ship, so the paladins were none the wiser to being observed and mistakenly believed that they had shut down all security feeds on board.

"Narti's right. We should continue to analyze the security feeds of the paladins." Acxa said.

"Yeah! That way we know the best way to beat them in a fight!" Zethrid exclaimed.

"Remember, there will be a fight, but we will let them get away with what they came for." Lotor directed at Zethrid.

"As long as I get to fight the princess again, I'm happy." Zethrid said.


	2. Downtime

"What's cooking good looking?" Lance said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Just making some cookies for everyone. How many times are you going to use that line?" Hunk chuckled.

"As many times as you let me." He started walking towards where Hunk was working. "Need any help?"

"Don't think so." A timer went off. "Oh! That's the next batch." Hunk ran over to the oven and grabbed the tray and placed it on the hot-pads on the counter.

"Aww, look how tiny these ones are!" Lance said as he grabbed one of the smaller cookies on the cooling rack, pinching it between his fingers.

"Those are for the space mice and I don't know if you've noticed, but the space mice are tiny." Hunk playfully said. "I'm not about to give them a full-sized cookie each. Can you imagine Allura's reaction to the space mice getting sugar rushes? She's terrifying when she wants to be."

"No arguments here. I've been on the receiving end enough times." A sad look flickered across Lances face before he flashed a smile and continued. "I just love how you're able to make these mini-meals, big guy. You're truly a gentle giant."

"ha ha, thanks, but really, it's not too difficult." Hunk sheepishly said. "All I had to do was recalibrate all of the kitchen systems to accommodate for the smaller food and not burn it to a crisp. Then it's just a matter of having a steady hand to get things to be the right size."

"That's still impressive. I don't think I could do all of that. Maybe the steady hand part, but that's about it. Engineering's not my strong suit."

"Don't I know it. Remember that project at the Garrison?"

"Hunk! I thought we agreed never to talk about that again. I had to pencil in my eyebrows for weeks!"

"Sorry." Hunk chuckled.

"Speaking of projects, how is the mouse shower coming along?"

"It's coming. There's just a lot of small parts to figure out how to use. They don't exactly have a build-it-yourself one. I've broken so many mini pipes trying to cut them to the right size and fit them together." Hunk sighed.

"Pidge could probably help there. She's got the smallest hands out of all of us." Lance suggested. "You could even get the space mice to help you. They're the ones who are going to be using it."

"Yeah, but I wanted to build it as a gift for them. They do a lot to help around here, I don't want to make them build their own present. Pidge is busy with her own projects and I don't want to bother her. Oh, speaking of Pidge, would you be able to bring this wrench back to her? I've still got a few batches to make."

"No problem. Do you want me to bring some cookies around for everyone?"

"If you aren't busy"

"No worries." Lance grabbed a plate from a cupboard and loading the cookies on it, including some of the mini ones for the space mice. "See ya later. Happy baking!"

As Lance approached Green's hanger, he heard a string of colorful language.

' _Pidge is definitely in there._ '

Lance opened the door and walked in. He didn't see Pidge at first. Then he heard the clang of something metal falling near Green.

"Quiznak!"

"Hey Pidge."

"Aaagh!" Pidge yelped as she fell from her hiding place. Luckily, she didn't have far to fall.

"Sorry." Lance winced. "Didn't mean to scare you. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Pidge dusted herself off. "Why are you always like that?"

"Like what?"

"So loud."

"What can I say, I'm a loud and proud kind of guy."

"And modest too."

"Aww. Thanks Pidge."

"Did you need something?" Pidge started walking towards Lance wondering why he would be coming to Green's hanger.

"Hunk made some cookies for everyone and wanted to return this wrench to you. Where should I put them?"

"You can just put them on the workbench over there. I'll put the wrench away later." Pidge made her way to the workbench and grabbed one of the cookies. She raised one to her mouth but paused. "Hunk didn't put any skultrite in these, right?" she questioned the blue color.

"Nope. No skultrite in these bad boys thanks to you labeling everything in the kitchen. Hunk appreciates it."

"I think we all appreciate it." Pidge snickered before taking a bite of her cookie.

"True. Hey, are you ok?" Lance looked over and asked seeing Pidge's eyes tearing up.

"I'm ok." Pidge rubbed her eyes. "These just taste exactly like the ones my mom always made. How is Hunk able to do that?"

"Don't know. It's his gift. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah."

"You said that they reminded you of your mom's."

"My mom would always make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies whenever we had something to celebrate. Birthdays, anniversaries, when Matt got in the Garrison, when we got Bae Bae. I think I get my peanut butter addiction from her. Also my love of computers." Pidge smiled a bit at that. "She made a lot of cookies for the Kerberos mission. So they could have a taste of home."

"That's really nice."

"Yeah, it is." She sniffed. "It's just, she's all alone back on earth. Well, alone except for Bae Bae."

"Bae Bae?"

"Our dog. He's a sweetheart. I don't think he ever understood where my dad was when he went on missions. When Matt and Dad went to Kerberos, he waited by the door all day for them to come back. When they said that the Kerberos mission had crashed, he still waited there. My mom was heartbroken, but she refused to believe what the Garrison was telling us. With two of the greatest minds and one of the greatest pilots from the Garrison on board, how could they crash? That's when I decided to sneak into the Garrison to find answers. Iverson caught me and banned me from the premises, but not before I saw enough to know that they didn't crash and the Garrison was hiding that fact. I wasn't able to download anything before I was caught, so I knew that I would have to find another way in to get concrete evidence. Seeing as I was banned, I decided to register as a boy."

"You literally pulled a Mulan." Lance commented

"Yeah, I guess I did." She snickered. "I even used Matt's nickname for me from when we were little."

"Wait, Pidge isn't your name?"

"You thought it was?"

"You never said anything."

"I didn't think I had to. Anyways, I tried to hide what I was planning to do from my mom, but she found out when she saw my first attempt at giving myself a boy haircut. Nothing gets past her. I can still hear her saying 'Kathleen Marie Holt, if you think for one second that I'm going to let you sneak into a government facility on your own, you must be crazy.' She helped me get everything ready. Together, we forged all the documents I would need to pass for someone else. I used her maiden name for my last name. 'Pidge Gunderson' was declared a cousin of the Holts, hence the similar looks. We called my Aunt Jennifer to let her know about her sudden new child in case the Garrison ever decided to call her to verify anything. I called her maybe every other week from the payphones at the Garrison to help keep up the façade. I called my mom every week to give her updates on what progress I was making, but I used my cell phone for that so the Garrison wouldn't be spying on our conversations."

"Wait, the Garrison did that?" Lance thought back on all of his conversations with his family when he would start crying from being homesick.

"They're a government facility working to improve technology for our country. Of course they're going to spy on the phones on their grounds. They don't want anyone leaking any information. That's why I had to call my aunt from their payphones, so the Garrison would see that 'Pidge' was talking to her family about completely normal stuff. That's also why my mom and I made sure my phone wouldn't be able to be spied on. I gave her updates every week. The last thing I sent her was a picture of all of us with Shiro when we were all in Keith's shack. I gave her all of your names in case the Garrison tried to cover this up like they did Kerberos. I wonder what they did say. I mean, three cadets all just disappear overnight when there was a code red going on? What could they possibly say to that?"

"Do you think our families think we're dead?" Lance asked.

"No. If any students at the Garrison died, it would launch an investigation into what happened. That would be the last thing they would want. Most likely, they'd say we ran away because we couldn't handle the pressure and didn't want to face our families. Remember how our last simulator went?"

"Yep. We were not a great team back then. And then Iverson just ripping us apart in front of everyone. Not fun." Lance said remembering what Iverson had said that day.

"Thanks for taking the brunt of what he said. I get pretty defensive when my family is involved."

"No problem Pidge, err, Kathleen?"

"I go by Katie, but don't tell Hunk. If he doesn't guess my real name in one movement, this girl's going to be 20 GAC richer."

"Got it. My lips are sealed." Lance said while doing zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket. (he zipped his lips, locked his lips, and put the 'key' in his pocket)

"What are you, 5?"

"On a scale from 1 to 5, yes."

"You sound like Matt."

"Is he charming and suave?" he held a finger gun under his chin to emphasize what he was saying.

"No. He was a big dork, but he was always able to cheer me up. He's a great brother. The best brother a girl could have." Pidge wistfully said.

"I'm sure we'll find him and your dad soon. Shiro too."

"I know. It's just… what if they're…"

"Nope. Don't you finish that sentence. They're alive and trying to get back home. Just wait until they find out you're a paladin! They're going to be so proud of you!"

Pidge suddenly latched onto Lance in a hug which he quickly returned. "Thanks, Lance."

"What for?"

"For listening."

"No problem, Pidge."

A screen over the workbench suddenly turned on and they saw Coran's face on it.

"Hey Coran." Lance and Pidge said.

"Hello Pidge and Lance. Wouldn't have expected both of you to be here. Anyhoo…Pidge, you wouldn't happen to have borrowed my impact driver, did you?"

"Oh yeah. Where did I put that?" Pidge started scanning the workbench for the tool, but Lance beat her to it.

"Is this one yours, Coran?" Lance held up the impact driver to the screen.

"Yes! Would you be able to bring it to me? I'm in the med bay by the healing pods right now."

"No problem."

"Excellent! Out and over!"

"Guess that's my cue." Lance said as he grabbed the plate of cookies and started for the door.

"Wait. How did you know what an impact driver is?" Pidge asked.

"I did theatre for years. The whole cast and crew worked together to build the sets. Impact drivers are life savers. Anyways, see you later Pidge."

"I got your impact driver, Coran. Also some of Hunk's cookies." Lance said as he entered the med bay area.

Coran emerged from behind one of the healing pods.

"Thank you, my boy. Now I can finish this up."

"What are you working on?"

"Just updating a few things here and there. This should help speed up the healing process in this healing pod. Slav has quite a few ideas for upgrading things," Coran begrudgingly admitted "but I'd rather not have him be too involved in it, even if he did send over some plans."

"Same here."

"Could you give me a hand here for a tic?"

"Sure. What do you need me to do?"

"Just hold this piece here. Slav seems to forget that in this reality Alteans only have 2 arms." Coran used the impact driver on the part. "I'm just glad we don't have to listen to him blabber on about how outdated he believes the castleship is. Altean technology is second to none."

"Yeah, I mean, the Galra had 10,000 years to improve their technology and they still aren't better than your tech. Though, there is always room for improvement."

"I know," Coran lowered the impact driver "but it almost feels wrong to alter things about the castleship. My grandfather worked so hard to build this. I would hate to ruin what he created."

"Coran, you know basically everything about this ship. There's no way you could quiznak it up."

"Oh, you used quiznak correctly." Coran wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "I feel like a proud father gren."

"Well, I learned from the best."

"Haha. My mother used to say that to my grandfather, and I used to say it to her, and…" Coran's voice dropped off as he got a distant look in his eyes.

"Are you ok, Coran?"

"Ah, yes. Just reminiscing a bit."

"You lost a lot of people on Altea. I can only imagine what you and Allura are going through."

"It's something I hope no one else will ever have to experience."

"Well that's why Voltron's here to save the day! Pow pow pow!" Lance said as he did his laser gun impression.

"Haha. Right you are my boy." Coran said as he tightened the last screw into place. "That should do it. Let's start it up."

Coran powered up the healing pod that he was working on. The light in it sputtered before turning off.

"Oh."

Suddenly, the lights lit up to full brightness.

"It's working! You did it Coran!" Lance exclaimed.

"No, we did it my boy. Now we just need to wait for someone to be injured enough to need it so we can check for sure. Any volunteers?" Coran joked as he grabbed a cookie from the plate.

"Not today, sorry. I've still got cookies to deliver. Do you know where Allura is? I know Keith's training, cause what else does he do, but I don't know where Allura is and I don't want to wander the whole ship looking for her."

"I believe she's in the library."

"Do you need any more help before I go?"

"No, I should be ok. They don't call me the Coranic for nothing." He struck a heroic pose.

"Haha. Alright. See ya later, Coran."

When Lance walked into the library he almost tripped on a pile of books and tablets.

"Whoa!" He yelled as he somehow managed to keep the tray from spilling while he regained his balance.

"Lance? Is that you?"

"Sure is, Princess. I come bearing cookies." Lance said as he carefully made his way through the maze of books scattered on the floor. He found Allura and the space mice at one of the tables with a mountain of knowledge in front of them. The space mice were looking at the pages of one of the open books and *squeaking* instructions and encouragement to Allura who was looking determinedly at a pencil in front of her. She held her hand out and there was a pink aura around her and the pencil. It started to twitch slightly, but you wouldn't have noticed if you weren't looking for it. The pencil started to float off the table before the aura grew brighter and it shattered into pieces. Luckily, the space mice had run behind one of the stacks of books, so they weren't harmed.

Allura sank in her chair with a sigh. "I feel like I'm never going to get this right." She said putting her head in her hands.

"Don't say that. So you have a bit of trouble controlling your powers, big deal. You still have these amazing powers. You can definitely teach the Galra and Hagger a few things."

"I just wish I had someone that could teach me how to control these powers. Everyone who could is either dead or working with the Galra. Being able to hit a target with a strong attack is good in a fight, but I want to be able to do more with these powers. All I have to learn from is books and tablets that are over 10,000 years old. The druids have years of training on me and it feels like I'll never catch up."

' _Kind of like me with Keith_.' Lance thought. "Hey, I know what can turn that frown upside-down. Cookies a la Hunk." he placed the tray down on the table.

"What kind are they?"

"Peanut butter chocolate chip, or as close as Hunk can get them to tasting like that. Hunk even made some mini ones for you guys." Lance told the space mice who quickly scurried over to the plate to grab their mini cookies.

"I always wondered what Pidge meant by peanut butter. Let me try something." Allura put her hand out again, this time with her palm facing the tray of cookies. The cookie on top got a pink aura as well as Allura. It began floating and slowly started floating towards Allura. When it was just a foot away from her, the pink grew brighter as the cookie blasted into pieces that flew around the room with one of the larger pieces hitting Allura right on the nose.

"I guess that's how the cookies crumbles." Lance tried to hold in his laughter, but eventually couldn't help it. "I'm sorry princess. Your shocked face was just so perfect." He said between laughs with Allura joining in.

"It's alright. It's good to laugh at one's self from time to time. In truth, it's been quite some time since I've had a good laugh, what with Shiro missing and everything else." Allura said as she reached over and grabbed a cookie from the tray

"Yeah, it's a lot on all of our shoulders, yours especially. But your alchemy is getting better. The cookie floated longer than the pencil before it broke. If you ever need any encouragement, you know where to find me." Lance picked up the tray once more. "I've got to get these to Keith. See you, princess."

Lance could hear the clang of metal on metal before he opened the door to the training deck. ' _Where else would Keith be?_ ' He opened the door and saw Keith facing off against one of the gladiator bots on the other side of the room. ' _Probably should wait until he's done to let him know I'm here. I don't want to be the reason he got a black eye. Again_.' He remembered the last time he burst in and yelled to Keith who had looked over at him and got decked in the face by the gladiator. Keith had been upset at first but brushed it off as nothing after Lance quickly apologized.

Lance stayed close to the wall and found a ledge to put the plate of cookies on while waiting for Keith to finish. He leaned against the wall and watched Keith fight the gladiator. 'How is he able to make it look so effortless?' he thought as Keith managed to block a strike and slide behind the robot. With a quick slash of his sword, the gladiator was down for the count. Keith continued to slash at the robot, yelling in frustration.

"I think you got 'im." Lance called out.

Keith looked up at Lance in surprise and brought his sword down. With the clashing of swords no longer ringing in the air, Lance could hear Keith's heavy breathing. Clearly he'd been at this awhile.

"Oh. Didn't see you come in." Keith said in shock.

"You seemed pretty occupied. But dude, that was awesome! You were all like" Lance imitated Keith swinging his sword "and he was all like, and then you…You've got to teach me how to do that!"

"Umm. I don't really know how to teach."

"Oh. Well, that's ok."

"Did you come here to train? I can leave if you want the deck to yourself."

"Nah. Hunk made some more cookies, so I volunteered to bring them to everyone."

"What kind are they this time?"

"Peanut butter chocolate chip. I feel like I've said that too many times today. Next time, I'm making a sign."

"It's probably time I took a break anyways." Keith said as he came over to where Lance was and sat down, back against the wall. Lance went and grabbed the plate of cookies from the shelf and sat down next to Keith, placing the plate between them.

"I also wanted to apologize for what I said on the mission yesterday. I shouldn't have said that you aren't as good of a leader as Shiro." Lance said with his head hanging low.

"It's ok, Lance. You were right. I'm not a great leader like Shiro. I try to do what I think he would do, but it just seems to go wrong every time." Keith said as he grabbed a cookie off of the plate.

"Well yeah you're not like Shiro. You're Keith. You run in guns blazing, or I guess sword swinging. You have your own way of leading. That doesn't make you any better or worse a leader than Shiro. There's nothing wrong with having a different style than him. You just have to ask yourself 'What would Keith do?' instead of worrying about what Shiro would do."

"What would Keith do?" Keith snickered as he said it out loud.

"Exactly! Wait, did you just smile?"

"You have no proof."

"Next time, Kogane. I can't believe you're still training. I mean, I can, because it's you, but we had extra training today. How are you still going?"

Keith shrugged. "It relaxes me."

"Oh yeah, cause hitting one of the training bots repeatedly when it isn't fighting back is _so_ relaxing."

"Think you could do better?" Keith smirked slightly.

"You know it!" Lance said as he went over to grab the staff from the downed training bot. "Let's dance."

"I'm not going to go easy on you."

"Wouldn't expect you to."

(A few minutes later)

"Oof." Lance said as Keith pinned him again.

"Had enough?"

"I haven't even gotten started yet."

"Could have fooled me."

Lance tried to fight against Keith, but he wasn't able to break his hold. ' _Maybe a distraction of sorts could work_.'

"Is that a knife in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"It's a knife. What else would it be?" Keith responded confused, his grip not letting up.

"I waste my best material on you."

Suddenly, the PA system in the castle turned on.

"Guys." Pidge said over the speakers. "I think I found where they're keeping Shiro. Meet me on the bridge."

"She did it!" Lance exclaimed.

"Last one to the bridge has to clean the healing pods for a week." Keith said as he got off of Lance and started running.

"No fair. You got a head start."


End file.
